32 



THE AMERICAN POULTERER'S COMPANION. 



the other inhabitants of the poultry-yard. His 

 activity is indefatigable, and he is never deficient 

 in vigilance. Constantly taken up with his mates, 

 he warns them out of danger, gets before them, 

 and if obliged to yield to force, which robs him 

 of one, he for a long time expresses by loud out- 

 cries his anger and his regrets ; feeling for their 

 suffering, he again utters loud and sonorous ex- 

 clamations, when by their cries they announce 

 the pains or fatigues of laying. A softer cluck- 

 ing is the signal by which he calls them ; his un- 

 usual shrill crow is, at the same time, the ex- 

 pression of his continual vigilance, the cry of 

 victory after an engagement, and the accent of 

 satisfied love. It was formerly thought that the 

 cock and the nightingale were the only day birds 

 that sung and crowed at night; other species also 

 warble after sunset ; but all, as well as the night- 

 ingale, are quiet when the season of love is over ; 

 whereas the tame cock crows every day and ev- 

 ery night throughout its whole existence. How- 

 ever, there is some ground to presume that it is 

 otherwise in a state of nature, and that the crow- 

 ing of the wild cock is no more, as with other 

 birds, than the momentary accent of his loves. 



If the life of the domestic cock be an unin- 

 terrupted series of enjoyments, it is also com- 

 monly a continual scene of war. As soon as 

 a rival comes forward, the fight begins, and only 

 ends by the retreat of one of the champions. 

 Sometimes both rivals die in the battle. If 

 one of them be conqueror, he immediately cel- 

 ebrates his triumph by repeated Growings and 

 by flapping his wings. The other disappears, 

 abashed at being defeated. 



Less spirited than the males, hens are also 

 milder and more timid ; though they fight with 

 each other, and, for a moment, with ten times 

 more fury than the cocks. Their voice is less 

 sonorous ; but its different modulations show 

 that they, as well as the cocks, have a varied 

 language; after having laid, they utter loud 

 cries ; if they call their chickens together, it is 

 by a short, grave clucking; they warn them out 

 of danger by a monotonous and lengthened 

 cry, which they repeat till the bird of prey is 

 out of sight; in fine, they keep up, between 

 themselves, a continual cackling, which seems 

 to be a coherent conversation between these 



very chattering females. There are some hem 

 which faintly imitate the crowing of the cock ; 

 they are usually the young ones of the year, and 

 they do not always keep on this mimic fancy, 

 as I have ascertained by following several of 

 those crowing hens, which happened to be at 

 different times in my poultry-yard. As to the 

 rest, they had none of those exterior characters 

 which could bring them near the cock ; they lay 

 like the rest, and it is wrong that they should 

 be generally proscribed as either barren or as 

 ill-omened. The housewives of Lorraine, and 

 several other parts of France, are forward in 

 putting to death every hen that imitates the crow- 

 ing of the cock, which in their eyes is the effect 

 of a charm ; hence a very jocular saying, in 

 which there is some meaning: "A hen that 

 crows, a parson that dances, a woman that talks 

 Latin, never come to any good." 



"In the mythology of the ancients," sayt- 

 Main, "the cock was the symbol of vigilance. 

 Polytheism consecrated it to Minerva and Mer- 

 cury; it was offered to JEsculapius, the God of 

 Medicine, on recovering from illness. The Ro- 

 mans used to keep sacred pullets, and they un- 

 dertook nothing of consequence before they had 

 consulted the auspices of this prophetic fowl. 

 Its meals were solemn omens, which regulated 

 the conduct of the senate and the armies." 



The cock is remarkable for his haughty, 

 grave, stately gait, for his courage and vigi- 

 lance, for his attachment to his hens, for his 

 amorous disposition, and his means of satisfy- 

 ing it. 



The cock begins paying his addresses to the 

 hens from the time he is four months old; his 

 full vigor only lasts three years, though he may 

 live till ten. It is remarked that in cocks of 

 the large species, the procreative qualities are 

 later in coming forward ; they probably enjoy 

 it longer. As soon as the cock gets less nim- 

 ble he is no more worthy to figure in the se- 

 raglio ; his successor must be the finest, the most 

 brave of all the supernumerary young cocks in 

 the poultry-yard. 



Peace does not continue long between cocks, 

 among which the empire of the poultry-yard has 

 been divided ; as they are all actuated by a rest- 

 less, jealous, hasty, fiery, ardent disposition. 



